The Summer of '86: Sun, Sand, and Steroids

A number of important events happened in Baseball in 1986. The Red Sox came within one out of their first championship since 1918, Roger Clemens struck out a Major League record 20 batters in one game and won both the Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player Award, and Bobby Doerr was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In August of that season, career Hits leader Pete Rose of the Reds collected his final Hit, while Pittsburgh's Barry Bonds slammed the first of his record 762 Home Runs in June. Other notable achievements of 1986 are Atlanta's Bob Horner hitting four Home Runs in one game, Mike Scott of the Astros pitching a no-hitter, and Don Sutton winning his 300th game. While these achievements are all noteworthy, they pale in comparison to the most important event of 1986, the introduction of steroids into Major League Baseball.

No one knows the exact date of the first use of steroids in Baseball or who took them. Jose Canseco admitted to using steroids beginning in 1985 at the age of 20, a year that saw his Home Run total in the Minor Leagues jump from 15 in 1984 to 36 the next year in just 34 more At-Bats. He would go on to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1986 after bashing 33 Home Runs for the Oakland Athletics, five short of the MLB Rookie record of 38 held by Wally Berger and Frank Robinson. Several other Rookies made quite an impact in 1986. Former College superstar Pete Incaviglia hit 30 Home Runs for the Rangers, while Seattle's Danny Tartabull, son of former MLB player Jose Tartabull, clubbed 25 Home Runs with 96 RBI. In Cleveland, super sub Cory Snyder slammed 24 Home Runs, and the Angels had slick-hitting Wally Joyner with his 22 Home Runs and 100 RBI. Another slugger would make a brief debut at the end of the 1986 season as future Home Run king Mark McGwire joined Canseco in Oakland.

In his book "Juiced...", Canseco admitted to injecting McGwire with steroids while teammates in Oakland. They were known as 'The Bash Brothers' because of their muscular physiques and gaudy Home Run totals, which were attributed to weight lifting. Washington Post Baseball writer Thomas Boswell claimed that Canseco 'made himself great with steroids' after his MVP season of 1988. A month later, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 penalized the distribution or possession of anabolic steroids unless prescribed by a physician, and anabolic steroids were formally banned in MLB in 1991 by Commissioner Faye Vincent. McGwire would be found using the muscle building supplement androstenedione during his chase of Roger Maris's Home Run record in 1998. Androstenedione was eventually banned by MLB in 2004, after the FDA banned the sale of andro earlier in the year because of its similarity to an anabolic steroid.

In 2005, during a Congressional hearing on steroids and Baseball, McGwire refused to answer questions about his past. It was during this hearing that Rafael Palmeiro infamously pointed his finger as he denied using steroids, and Sammy Sosa mysteriously forgot how to speak English. Also present at the hearing were Canseco, Frank Thomas, and Curt Schilling. Thus far, only Thomas and Schilling remain clear of steroid controversy.

Palmeiro and Bonds both debuted as Outfielders in 1986, Palmeiro as a September call-up with the Cubs, and Bonds at the end of May for the Pirates. The Cubs traded the slap-hitting Palmeiro to the Rangers in 1989, where he teamed with a young Sosa for a few months before Sammy was traded to the White Sox. In 1992, the Rangers traded their young star Ruben Sierra to the Athletics for Canseco, who would begin to supply steroids for Palmeiro and other young Rangers Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez. When Alex Rodriguez joined the Rangers in 2001, Palmeiro, Pudge, and Ken Caminiti were all members of the team, and would all be accused of (or be caught) using steroids. (I'll deal with the Astros and Mariners use of steroids later)

In his third season with the Twins in 1986, Kirby Puckett hit 31 Home Runs after hitting just four over his first two years. He had worked in the off-season with hitting coach Tony Oliva on driving the ball with his quick wrists, and the results were amazing. Some critics scoffed at the claim and accused Puckett and the Twins of 1986 of being Baseball's frst steroid users. Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated wrote 'The Secret Life of Kirby Puckett' in 2003, in which Deford tells of Puckett's many sexual indiscretions and acts of violence. Some of the acts could be associated with 'roid rage', a term for aggressive behavior shown by a person after taking large doses of anabolic steroids.

Prior to 'the Steroids Era', baseball players used amphetamines and cocaine in the 1970s and 1980s to boost their performance. The most famous incident involving drug use was when Dock Ellis of the Pirates pitched a no-hitter against the Padres in 1970 while high on LSD. Commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspended eleven players in 1986 who testified in the Pittsburgh drug trial the year before. Admitted users included Keith Hernandez, whose Mets teams were drowning in cocaine, Tim Raines, who slid head-first to avoid breaking a vial, and John Milner, who bought amphetamines from Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Willie Mays. Later in 1986, Ueberroth would ban former Cy Young Award winner Lamar Hoyt from Baseball for his third arrest due to drug possession charges.

1986 was a transition year as players turned away from amphetamines and other drugs in favor of supplements and steroids. The weight lifting programs that became popular workouts in the late 1970s were aided by PEDs beginning in the late 1980s. Eventually, most of the PEDs were banned by the Government and subsequently by MLB because of the damage they cause to a body. Now that MLB has a drug testing policy, what will the players use next to make themselves better?

Great Players who debuted in 1986:
-Barry Bonds*
-Greg Maddux
-Rafael Palmeiro*
-Mark McGwire*
-Fred McGriff

Good Players who debuted in 1986:
-Will Clark
-Barry Larkin
-Benito Santiago*
-Chuck Finley
-Wally Joyner*
-Bobby Bonilla
-David Cone
-Bo Jackson
-Kevin Brown*
-Ruben Sierra

*Accused or convicted of steroids use